Pocket Broadside #6 - Michelle Penaloza

A poem by dual Kartika Review and Lantern Review contributor Michelle Peñaloza is up on Pocket Broadsides today!  Click here to read “This Idea of Sin” on Tumblr.

To see all of the Pocket Broadsides that have been posted on Tumblr thus far, visit the project’s main page at pocketbroadsides.tumblr.com. To read each new piece as soon as it is posted, follow us on Tumblr, or subscribe to the RSS feed.

Pocket Broadside #5 - Wendy Chin-Tanner

A micro-poem by Issue 3 contributor and current LR staff writer Wendy Chin-Tanner has been posted to the Pocket Broadsides Tumblr page.

Wendy is the driving force behind the host of  thoughtful, colorful interviews that we’ve had the opportunity to publish on the blog this year, and we are excited to have been able to include some of her own poetry in the Pocket Broadsides series.  Please help us to spread the word by tweeting, re-blogging, and sharing her micro-poem wherever you can.

To see all of the Pocket Broadsides that have been posted on Tumblr thus far, visit the project’s main page at pocketbroadsides.tumblr.com. To read each new piece as soon as it is posted, follow us on Tumblr, or subscribe to the RSS feed.

Process Profiles Series

Just as we’ve done in past Mays, we’ve asked several of our contributors to write short guest posts for us in which they reflect upon their processes for writing a poem of theirs that we’ve published.  This has always been one of our favorite series to run, and we hope that you’ll enjoy this year’s installments equally as much as those from years past.  A new Process Profile will be posted each week (usually on a Wednesday), every week, for the duration of May.

Curated Prompts

We had a lot of fun getting to work with our guest prompt-writers last May, so we’re thrilled to be able to continue our Curated Prompts series—in which we post writing exercises contributed by respected writers and teachers of Asian American poetry in lieu of our regular Friday Prompts—during this year’s APIA Heritage Month.  This year’s lineup begins with Karen An-hwei Lee, whose exuberant, weather-inspired exercise will appear on the blog this Friday, the 4th.

Issue 5 Reading Period to Open Mid-Month

We’ve been waiting to re-open our reading period, because we have a very special announcement to make about our next issue. All will be revealed in mid-May, when we will officially open our doors to submissions for Issue 5.

The Poetry Celebration Continues

We’re particularly lucky, in a sense, that Poetry Month and APIA Heritage Month are back to back, because it means that we have the opportunity to celebrate Asian American poetry for two months straight!  In addition to our May series, we will also be keeping April’s Digital Broadsides up on the blog, and will continue to post Pocket Broadsides on Tumblr. We hope that you’ll continue to share these projects far and wide as our celebration of Asian American poetry continues.

Many thanks, and a very happy May to you.

Iris & Mia

No. 2 (Margaret Emma Brandl) - Exchanged for a Pocket Broadside at AWP 2012

The second of the pieces that was given to us in exchange for Pocket Broadsides at AWP—a short poem by Margaret Emma Brandl—is now posted on Tumblr! Click here to read “February Sweet.”

To see all of the Pocket Broadsides that have been posted on Tumblr thus far, visit the project’s main page at pocketbroadsides.tumblr.com. To read each new piece as soon as it is posted, follow us on Tumblr, or subscribe to the RSS feed.

Pocket Broadside #4 - Ocean Vuong

Issue 1 contributor Ocean Vuong‘s Pocket Broadside, a miniature poem called “Mother Tongue,” is now on Tumblr!

To read all of the Pocket Broadsides that have gone up so far, please visit the project’s main page at pocketbroadsides.tumblr.com.

As always, we’d be grateful if you helped us spread the word by following, reblogging, tweeting, or Faceb00k-sharing.

Pocket Broadside #3 - Aryanil Mukherjee

We’re pleased to announce that a Pocket Broadside by Issue 2 Contributor Aryanil Mukherjee—an excerpt from his book-length poem, “Dead Fish Buoy”—is now on Tumblr.  Please help us spread the word by following and/or re-blogging!

To see all of the Pocket Broadsides we’ve posted so far, please visit the project’s front page, at pocketbroadsides.tumblr.com.

No. 1 (Carolyn) - Exchanged for a Pocket Broadside at AWP 2012

Happy Monday!  We’re pleased to announce that the first of the short pieces that were given to us at AWP in exchange for Pocket Broadsides is now posted on Tumblr.  Click here to view this miniature poem by Carolyn.

To see all of the Pocket Broadsides that have been posted on Tumblr thus far, visit the project’s main page at pocketbroadsides.tumblr.com. To read each new piece as soon as it is posted, follow us on Tumblr, or subscribe to the RSS feed.

Pocket Broadside #2 - Jon Pineda

Happy Wednesday! Issue 1 contributor Jon Pineda‘s contribution to our Pocket Broadsides project is now on Tumblr.  Please help us spread the word by following the project and re-blogging if you have a Tumblr of your own, or by re-linking on Facebook, Twitter, or your own blog!

Pocket Broadside #1 - Vanni Taing

April is National Poetry Month, and as usual, we are celebrating it on the LR Blog with two new special projects.

Digital Broadsides for National Poetry Month

Whereas in the past, we’ve run a prompt contest during April, this year, we’ve decided to do something a little different. Because, in our view, National Poetry Month is as much about encouraging the reading of poetry as it is about encouraging the writing of poetry, we wanted to produce a project that would enable the sharing of  Asian American poetry beyond the confines of our magazine and blog.  To that end, we’re thrilled to be able to announce our very first series of Digital Broadsides.  Every Friday during the month of April, in lieu of  a regular prompt, we’ll be offering a free, downloadable broadside featuring a poem that’s appeared in a past issue of LR.  Each broadside has been designed by a different Asian American artist (most of whom are also poets and LR contributors), and will be offered in two different formats: as a desktop wallpaper, which we hope will inspire you to write each time you open your computer,  and as an 8.5 x 11 printable .PDF, which we hope you’ll print out, post, and share.  You can look out for the first of the series—featuring poet/artist Debbie Yee‘s design for R.A. Villanueva’s poem “Vanitas” (from Issue 4)—this Friday, when we’ll release it on the blog.

Pocket Broadsides on Tumblr

The Pocket Broadsides project (about which I wrote extensively in my AWP reflection post) is now on Tumblr!  Since many of the Pocket Broadsides are miniature poems, we thought that April would be the perfect time to launch an online archive of the project. Starting today, we will be posting images of up to two pieces a week—of both the Pocket Broadsides we brought to AWP (in serial order), and the visitor-written pieces that we received in exchange.  The series kicks off with Pocket Broadside #1, a short poem by LR Issue 1 contributor, Vanni Taing.  At least through the month of April, we’ll be posting notices on the LR blog each time we post a new poem to Tumblr, but to read each Pocket Broadside as soon as it’s released, please add pocketbroadsides.tumblr.com to your list of RSS subscriptions. If you’re on Tumblr yourself, please follow us and re-post!

* * *

That’s all of our special announcements for April.  We hope you’ll join us in helping to spread the word about Asian American poetry this month—both through the Digital Broadsides and by linking to and re-posting the Pocket Broadsides as they appear on Tumblr.

Do you have any special celebrations or project planned for National Poetry Month?  We’d love to hear about them.  Drop us a line in the comments or via e-mail.  If we like your project and you’re documenting it online, we’ll link to it on Facebook or Twitter, and maybe even post about it here!

1. AWP Bookfair: LANTERN REVIEW and the “Asian American Literary Collective”
This year we’ll be sharing a table at the bookfair with Kartika Review under the name “The Asian American Literary Collective.” This will be the best way to connect with us–so do drop by and say hello! Our table number is S16 and we’ll have information about an exciting new project (see below!) and as well as a number of other Asian American literary organizations and publications.

2. Pocket Broadsides: A Joint Project with KARTIKA REVIEW
If you come by our table, you’ll see that we’ve collaborated with Kartika Review this year to produce a series of 50 unique miniature (pocket-sized) broadsides containing micro-poems and -prose by contributors to both magazines. We’ll be giving them to people in exchange for completing a small writing task, or as thank you gifts for donations. Come by our table to find out how to participate!

3. Panels & Readings
Finally, though this is mostly going to be a “bookfair year” for us, we still hope to check out a few panels throughout the conference. Below, we’ve assembled a list of events that we feel may be of interest to Lantern Review readers, contributors and staff… especially given that a number of you are scheduled to be presenters!

Thursday, March 1 | 9:00 AM
R123. Who Can Say Who Are Citizens? Poets?
(Lytton Smith, Brian Teare, Rowan Ricardo Phillips, Sarah Gambito, Melissa Castillo-Garsow)
State Ballroom, Palmer House Hilton, 4th Floor

Thursday, March 1 | 12:00 PM
R163. A Face to Meet the Faces: Five Poets on Persona, Empathy, and Race
(Stacey Lynn Brown, Eduardo C. Corral, Cornelius Eady, Patricia Smith, Jake Adam York)
Waldorf, Hilton Chicago, 3rd Floor

R166. Writing the Middle East, Crossing Genre, Crossing Borders
(LeAnne Howe, Matthew Shenoda, Jim Wilson, Allison Adelle Hedge Coke, Hayan Charara)
Wiliford C, Hilton Chicago, 3rd Floor

Thursday, March 1 | 4:30 PM
R225. Agha Shahid Ali, the Ghazal, and the Destruction of Kashmir
(Paul Breslin, Stephen Burt, Raza Hasan, Ravi Shankar)
Continental A, Hilton Chicago, Lobby Level

Friday, March 2 | 10:30 AM
F135. Experiments in Individual Solace and Collective Safety: Five Days of Crafting Poetry at the Kundiman Writers’ Retreat
(Sarah Gambito, Cathy Linh Che, Myung Mi Kim, Patrick Rosal, Prageeta Sharma)
Lake Ontario, Hilton Chicago, 8th Floor

Friday, March 2 | 12:00 PM
F160. Works in Progress Mix Tape
(Ken Chen, Nami Mun, Don Lee, Prageeta Sharma)
Marquette, Hilton Chicago, 3rd Floor

Friday, March 2 | 3:00 PM
F215. Shifting Intimacies: A Reading by South Asian Diasporic Writers
(Roksana Badruddoja, Ravi Shankar, Leena Pendharkar, Vidhu Aggarwal, Nirmala Nataraj)

Friday, March 2 | 4:30 PM
F230. Arab and Arab American Feminisms
(Nadine Naber, Youmna Chlala, Susan Muaddi Darraj, Randa Jarrar)

Saturday, March 3 | 9:00 AM
S121. Speaking in Tongues
(Sandra M. Yee, Tarfia Faizullah, francine j. harris, Henry W. Leung, Milta Ortiz)
Red Lacquer Room, Palmer House Hilton, 4th Floor

Saturday, March 3 | 1:30 PM
S191. Coloring Outside the Lines
(Sandra M. Yee, J. Michael Martinez, Jamaal May, Dina Omar, Jane Wong)
Red Lacquer Room, Palmer House Hilton, 4th Floor

Saturday, March 3 | 4:30 PM
S229. Asian American Writers’ Workshop Discusses Asian American Poetry: Past, Present, Future
(Victoria Chang, Timothy Yu, Ken Chen, Nick Carbo, Sandra Lim)